Spy Glass Battery or Spyglass Battery was originally a high angle

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to fac ...

in the

British Overseas Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ...

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

. The battery is mounted high on the rock to give extra range and protection. The battery was still in use during the Second World War as a listening post and site for a

Bofors Gun AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms concern BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years. History Located i ...

Description

The six

RML 10 inch 18 ton gun The RML 10-inch guns Mk I – Mk II were large rifled muzzle-loading guns designed for British battleships and monitors in the 1860s to 1880s. They were also fitted to the and flat-iron gunboats. They were also used for fixed coastal defences a ...

s here were seen as the culmination of the idea of "retired batteries". Originally most of Gibraltar's guns were on the coast but Major General Sir John Jones realised that setting them higher up the

Rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

gave them more range and made them more difficult to hit. The six guns here and at the other ridge batteries were as high as guns could be placed. This battery however was different in that this was a high angle battery. There was a growing realisation that the thickness of the armour carried by battleships at the end of the nineteenth century meant that they were almost impossible to penetrate with even the largest gun. A new gun was devised this was the Mark 6 RML gun and it was intended to fire high in the air such that it would hit the decks and not the armoured sides of the battleship. These batteries would have been unusual with the guns and crews hidden from view because they were so far below the surface that only specially placed observers could see the horizon. This meant that the crews were very well protected from incoming fire. These high angle guns were the antithesis of the famous gun carriage created by

George Koehler George Frederick Koehler (14 January 1758 – 29 December 1800) was a British artist, soldier and engineer. He is known for creating a gun that recoiled allowing it to fire down the side of a mountain without sending the gun carriage flying into ...

which were designed to fire at a depressed angle down the side of the rock of Gibraltar and made a major contribution to the

Great Siege of Gibraltar The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British during the War of the American Revolution. It was the largest battle in the war by number of combatants. The American war had end ...

. Here the guns fired up. The advantage of height that the Spyglass battery enabled the guns here to have increased range. The battery here has the date of 1898 on its signage today. The guns have unusual cloud cover caused by the Levant wind which forms clouds as warm air meets the cool rock of Gibraltar.

Second World War

During the Second World War, there was a Bofors anti-aircraft gun here. Leslie Cole who was a War Artist recorded the listening equipment that was being used from this battery.Listening-post at Spyglass, Gibraltar
Leslie Cole, Imperial War Museum, accessed 27 June 2013 Listening posts were the best early warning of approaching aircraft before the invention of radar. The parabolic shapes directed the smallest of noises to a microphone which would give an early warning. In Britain 30 foot concrete dishes were constructed to carry out the same task. Today the remains of the battery (like

Breakneck Battery Breakneck Battery is an artillery battery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located on Ministry of Defence property at the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, north of Lord Airey's Battery. It is one of a dozen batteries in Gibraltar ...

) are still under the control of the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence. The site can be visited only with special permission and there are no routine guided tours.

Gallery

File:Magazine Entrance Spy Glass Battery.jpg, Magazine Entrance File:Spy Glass Battery Gibraltar.jpg, The battery in 2013 File:Spyglass high-angle battery Gibraltar.jpg, Spyglass high-angle battery File:Spy Glass Battery Upper.jpg, Plaque at entrance

References

{{Fortifications of Gibraltar Batteries in Gibraltar